An AMAZING Opportunity!!

I won't go in to any details right now, but I have an AWESOME opportunity right at my feet!! I am absolutely, definitely, 100% going at this opportunity, too!! I will take hold and try as hard as possible to get this!! You have no idea how AMAZING this is right now for me!! It has to deal with my DREAM JOB!! If it weren't for me going to Indy two weeks ago, this opportunity wouldn't have even presented itself to me!! I love how things have been working out in my life lately!!

PLEASE KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR ME!! I really, really, really want need this!! My life would be absolutely wonderful if I got this!! [Not that it isn't absolutely wonderful already, but you know what I mean. HA.]

I could cry right now because of this opportunity presenting itself to me already!! It's unbelievable!!

School

This past Monday, July 13th, was my 22nd birthday and my first day of school!! It was such an awesome day!! Getting a phone call from my husband in the morning got my day off to a great start, but then the day just went "sour". That really sucked!! But then at night, I was told "happy birthday" from my favorite athlete!! I started to cry!! It was so wonderful!! How many people get to say that they were told "happy birthday" by their favorite athlete?! Not many, I'm sure!!

Anyway, school has been okay. I'm wrapping up week one here, and I know that it's going to take a little bit of getting used to for me. I haven't been in school in a long time, and I've never taken any online classes before. Plus, with two kids running around, it can be a bit difficult and stressful at times. So there's a lot of adjusting that needs to be done. I know I will be fine though. I just need to get next week over with, and I will probably be fine then. If not after next week, maybe I'll be fine after the third week.

I got to order my new photo editing software the other day through the school!! I was so excited to see the e-mail in my inbox saying that I can now order the software and that there was a special code for me to use so I got the right thing!! I don't know when I will get the software, but I should be finding out within the next few days. I hope it gets here soon because I am dying to edit my photos from last week when I was in Indy!! I hate that I have so many, yet people have only seen a very small portion of them!!

I can't wait till I start taking classes that really focus in on photography!! I can't wait to learn new things about photography, and then put those things to use!! It's going to be so amazing!! I absolutely LOVE photography - everything about it!! I hope that I do get to become that sports photographer I can only currently dream of becoming!! I feel that I already have quite a bit "under my belt" with sports photography since I have been going to sports events to test and work on my sports photography skills. A lot of people in my class already think that I've achieved quite a bit, but to me, it's not nearly close to what I want to achieve!! To me, I just do what I love!! If I have to pay nearly $1,000 for tickets and a hotel for one week, I will do it - and I did last week!! I don't care!! If that's what it takes to get me started and work on my skills, then that's what it takes!! You have to start somewhere!! I'm going to do what it takes to be a sports photographer!! Of course, I would absolutely love to see my name under a photograph [or under a bunch of photographs] in sports magazines one day, but if that doesn't happen, that's okay. Just as long as I am at a sports event, being paid to do what I love to do, then I'll be incredibly happy!! It's going to happen for me one day - I know it will!!

Do you remember how my one camera lens got all messed up and I had to take it to Best Buy to get it fixed?! Well, it's fixed and waiting for me at Best Buy!! YAY!! I can't wait to go get it tomorrow!! Also, I will probably buy a new camera bag - a back pack!! My MIL gave me the money to go get it for my birthday, but I just haven't gone to Best Buy yet to get it. I can't wait!! I want to get one that's big enough to fit a laptop in it, the camera body, the three camera lenses I already have, the large lens I will be getting by year's end, and all of my accessories [lens filters, batteries, lens hoods, etc.].

Life seems to just be working out very well for me lately!!

BEST WEEK EVER!!!!

Today, I got home from the 2009 swimming Nationals/World Championship Trials. OMG! Let me tell you something, if you can ever go to a swim meet where the nation's best are competing, GO!!!! You will not regret it at all!! I kid you not when I say that last week was the best week of my life!! I have had so many amazing days and moments in life, but to have five consecutive day of nothing but pure awesomeness like I did last week has never happened to me!! I can't even begin to explain how amazing last week was!! It was so awesome, that as I got on the highway this morning to head back here to Ohio, I was on the verge of tears!!

I took over 2,000 photos last week!! I definitely have quite a few favorites already!! I can't wait till I get my new photo editing programs so I can resize, watermark, etc. the photos and share them with you guys!! I kid you not when I say I got some AMAZING shots last week!! Some of the shots I got look professional, which makes me very happy because sports photography is what I want to focus on!!

I got to meet SO MANY swimmers, past and present, last week. I got my picture taken with a lot of them, too!! I got autographs, photos of/with, had conversations with, joked around with, high-fived, and other stuff with swimmers, coaches, and family members of swimmers!! Even one of the swimmers "tweeted" about me on Twitter!! BAHAHAHA. That was so funny!! It was all just so amazing, wonderful, great, etc.!! Some of the photos of me with these people are really good, some are decent, and some are just down right hilarious!!!! Some of the photos had me crying because I was laughing so hard!!

I feel that while in Indy, I got to find part of myself that I lost a while ago. It was great being able to be that person again and have the fun that I did. I made some GREAT friends while in Indy, and I hope that next year, we will all be able to get together again at nationals!! We had so much fun and I will NEVER forget a lot of the memories we all shared together, if not all of the memories!! Those are memories I will be telling my children, grandchildren, and maybe even great-grandchildren [if I live that long]. I love what last week brought to me!! I haven't had that much fun in a LONG time, and I am so sad that it ended. I'm already making "mental plans" for next summer's Nationals, and maybe even going to some of the Grand Prix meets once they start back up later this year and go through next Spring/Summer.

I just don't know what else to say about last week. Words really can't even begin to try to explain how amazing last week was!! It was definitely a great way to celebrate the week before my birthday!! But now, it's back to my normal life, and I start school tomorrow!! I'm very nervous about starting school, but I'm ready for it, I think!! HA.